The U.S. is supporting Yemen to face the Houthi insurgents in the far north amid fears the country may become a safe haven for Al-Qaeda, a U.S. top army leader has said.
David Patraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, said the aid also comes amid plans to strengthen the Yemeni government's role in the fight on terrorism and to prevent Yemen from become a reserve base for terrorists after Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The remarks on Monday included also that the aid comes within the U.S. support for its regional allies, pointing out that warships in the region help thwart supplying the Houthi rebels with weapons, besides other duties such as combating terrorists and pirates.
They coincided with U.S. concern about Yemen's failure, amid major economic and security challenges prompting the country to send Special Forces to train Yemeni counterparts in an effort to improve the Yemeni army performance to be able to deal with challenges.
Yemen, like other regional states, receives security support from the U.S. including training its forces, he said.
Earlier the newspaper of Al-Quds Al-Arabi citing rebel leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi reported that U.S. airstrikes targeted the rebels in several Saada areas. There were more than 28 U.S. air raids, he was quoted as saying.
The army and the rebels have been in a sporadic war since 2004.